Facebook has released its financial results for the last quarter and full year of 2017. They had a strong overall performance to end the year, as quarterly and yearly total revenues both grew 47 percent from previous periods.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said they had a good financial year. But he also reminded investors and users of the shift to meaningful connections rather than passive content consumption in 2018.

Already last quarter, we made changes to show fewer viral videos to make sure people’s time is well spent. In total, we made changes that reduced time spent on Facebook by roughly 50 million hours every day. By focusing on meaningful connections, our community and business will be stronger over the long term.

DAUs

The 1.40 billion daily active users on average, as of December 2017, is 14 percent higher than last year. The quarterly growth rate shows that Facebook dropped from 3.8 percent in Q3 to 2.18 percent in Q4. (A decline that Zuckerberg explained in the quote above.)

Facebook lost a million daily active users on average in the North American region in Q4 2017. The only area and time it lost audience anywhere.

MAUs

The 2.13 billion monthly active users on average, as of December 31, 2017, is also 14 percent higher than last year.

Facebook reached 2 billion MAUs in the second quarter of 2017. The number continues to grow, without any hint of reaching a saturation point yet.

Mobile ads revenue

The company thrives in areas with less internet connectivity. With its internet.org project, Facebook is seeing steady user growth in Asia and third-world countries.

A few comments

Stained by a rise in fake accounts though, Facebook is working with global government agencies to curb the abusive use of the social network. In the past few years, the social network has been under fire for its vulnerability to fake news, hate speech and extremist content.

On January 27, 2018, The NY Times reported that Facebook admitted having up to 60 million active automated accounts or bots.

Facebook initially downplayed its role during the 2016 US elections. It then admitted that Russian fake accounts delivered content that influenced the votes of an estimated 126 million Americans.

The reduced time spent on the platform by 50 million hours daily will drop further. And any market will respond unfavorably to any decline in usage. If Facebook can explain properly the “greater good” of its changes and deliver positive results, the market may follow suit.

Zuckerberg knows where he wants the company to be in the future. Facebook has the largest data of user behavior than any company in history. Its latest financial results show that efforts have been fruitful and in the right direction.